u n s N e w fiv . R T H E G E N E S I S O F T HE U niv ersity of N ew B r u nsw ic k W I T H A S K E T C H O F T H E L I FE O F W LI M B YD O N E - ACK A M D C L I L A R . J , , P E S I E N T 1 6 1 - 1 R D 8 8 8 . , 5 M D B Y ARCH DE ACO N w . 0 . RAY O N , LL . D . , S N . B . T . JO H , N 1 9 1 9 T he Genesis of t he U niv ersity of N ew B r u nsw ic k W I T H A S K E T C H O F T H E L I FE O F W I LLI AM B RYD O N E - ACK A M D . C . L j , , . PR E S I D E N T I 8 6 1 - 1 8 8 , 5 . B Y D R O . AYMO N D ARCH EAC N W O , LL . D . , HE RE may be seen to - day on the wall of the library of T the University , in Fredericton , the original memorial to the firs t Governor of New Brunswick on the subject of ' of the establishment at the provincial capital an Academy , or school of “ Liberal Arts and n The memorial was signed by seven promine t Loyalists , : then lately arrived in the county , viz . William Pai ne William " , Wanton , George Sproule , ephaniah Kingsley , John Coffin , Ward Chipman and Adino Paddock . 1 3 1 5 On December , 78 , the memorial received the favor of able consideration the Governor in Council , and it was “ ordered That the attorney - general (Bliss) and solicitor - gen n eral (Chipman) , with all conve ient speed , be directed to pre ” pare the draft charter of the said I nstitution . r min n w e e e e t . The signers of the memorial , men Paine and Chipman were Harvard graduates . Wanton was a son of the Governor of Rhode Island and first collector of customs of the City of St . j ohn . Sproule was a native of Long Island , Y f n - N . , and a terwards for ma y years surveyor general of New n Bru swick . Kingsley was an eminent merchant of Charleston , k C . 5 . , and a "ua er by religion Coffin was from Boston and had a distinguished military career , being at the time of his death (at the advanced age of eighty - seven years) a General i n the British army . Paddock was a native of Boston a nd an of eminent physician , as were several his descendants . Chipma n M e e n in t he en x A C0 py of this morial w ill b fou d app di . T h nesis o the nivers o 4 e Ge f U ity f New Brunsw ick . - was successively solicitor general , j udge of the supreme court , of member of council and , at the time his death , administrator of the provincial government . Doctor William Paine , the first of the signers of the memo a s a a . rial , w native of Worcester , M ssachusetts At the peace 1 f‘T' in 78 3 , he obtained from Governor Parr a grant o ete Island in Passamaquoddy Bay and went there to live . Writing from 1 4 : thence in August , 78 , he says “ M y situation I like - very much ; my lands are certainly well located , and if M rs . Paine could content herself I should be well pleased . Her obj ection is that the children cannot be properly edu ca ted"This island will soon be a place of conse n im th r n i r n B u ce e i c a l o t i riti h Amer a . q e , and ult ately p p p s ic ’ Paine s expectatio ns were based upon the proximity of the ’ L E ta n fine harbour known as g , near the mouth of the Bay of n . w a s 1 Fu dy Dr . Paine in 78 5 elected a member of the first House of Assembly for the County of Charlotte and appointed first clerk of the House . I t is said that at a dinner party given by Doctor and M rs . s f Paine in Worcester , M as , shortly be ore the outbreak of the Revolution , some of the Whigs refused to drink the health of i otto voc the King , until John Adams adv sed them s e, to comply , saying , We shall be able to return the compliment . Accord ingly Adams immediately afterwards proposed the health of " n his Satanic M ajesty , the Devil Paine was very indigna t , ' but his wife with ready woman s wit turned the laugh on ‘ Adams “ - by saying , My dear , as the gentleman has been so kind as to ’ drink the King s health , let us by no means refuse to drink to his frie nd . I n 1 78 6 the Governor -in - Council ordered that acres of land in the vici nity of Fredericton be devoted to the main t ena nce of the Provincial Academy of Arts and Sciences . And 1 9 in the session of 7 3, the House of Assembly resolved that an 20 for annual sum , not exceeding £ 0 , be allowed the purpose of assisting in the erection of proper buildings for the Academy . The site selected was near the present Christ Church Cathedral . The Academy was at first little more than an old time Grammar I n 1 w a s School . 8 00 , however , it established by provincial ” charter as the College of New Brunswick , and five years later there was added to its annual income the sum of £ 100 derived from the rentals of its lands . From time to time the grant was i ncreased until in the time ofSir Howard Douglas ( 1 8 29) it had reached a sum equivalent to currency , and this continued to be the annual legislative gran t for current a s a s 1 . expenses until late , at least , 8 98 T he enesis o the niversi o N ew runsw ic G f U ty f B k . 5 1 8 1 1 . I n the Rev J ames Somerville , M .A . , LL . D . , became Principal Preceptor of the Academy , and on M arch 25 , 1 8 20 , the same gentleman became the first and only President “ ” of the College of New Brunswick . He was succeeded at M . cCa w le . A . r the Academy by the Rev George y , B , of Windso , N . S . These two eminent teachers were associated in Academic n and Collegiate work for the next sixtee years . The staff of the college proper consisted of Dr . Somerville alone , as we learn from his address to the first and only graduating class of 21 1 2 the College of New Brunswick , delivered on February , 8 8 , in which he observes : “ To assert that one man , although his abilities and acquire ments were greatly superior to mine , when thrown upon his in i own solitary resources , could perform what in similar st t u the f tions is business of five or six , would savour more o the vain boastings and empty pretence of an emperic than the iffi nc modesty and d de e of a scholar , but I can confidently say ” I have done what I could . A . The Candidates who were admitted to the degree of B . , on this oc casion , were Samuel Denny Lee Street and Daniel A . H . Smith , and on the same day Timothy R . Wetmore , B . , ’ . a un . of King s College , Windsor, was admitted B A d e dem Street , the first graduate , was a younger brother of J udge t he . George Frederick Street and of Hon John Ambrose Street , - attorney general of the province in 1 8 5 1 . He entered the ministry of the An glican Church and was for forty -one years * rector of the Parish of Woodstock . The three gentlemen j ust mentioned were the only graduates of the College of New Brunswick . The building in which their degrees were con ferred stood not far from the site of the Cathedral . 2 1 2 The provincial legislature , on M arch 5 , 8 3, passed an act to enable the governor and trustees of the College of New Brunswick to make a conditional surrender of their charter , having in view the obtaining of a Royal Charter from the f crown . Soo n a ter the arrival of Sir Howard Douglas in 1 4 August , 8 2 , the site of the new college building was chosen , ’ and during t he next two years the sound of the workman s hammer was heard in the construction of the nobler and more enduring college building that still crowns the hill back of 1 2 Fredericton . I n 8 8 the work was so far advanced as to permit the surrender of the provincial charter . The new ‘ - n f ev . D . Lee ree w ere t he e S ub . D e n tree of t he C e r Among the So s o R S St t lat a S t . ath d al ree o ec or of Cus o s. T he w r er of s er w a s t z e Rev .